Cosby, Tennessee - History - Moonshining

Moonshining

For much of the first half of the 20th century, Cosby was known to East Tennesseans as "The Moonshine Capital of the World." Of Cosby's moonshiners, Smith recalled:

So notorious did their activities become that I learned when I first went away from home that when I had to give my address as "Cosby," I should be ready to say, "Yes, they make it up there."

Like other Appalachian communities at the base of the Smokies, Cosby's chief crop was corn. While corn could be grown on relatively steep grades, the soil in Cosby's hilly recesses grew poorer and poorer with every clearing. Eventually, farmers struggled to break even, and in the late 19th century began to supplement their income by selling moonshine.

The deep winding coves and thick forests of the Smokies were the perfect cover for moonshine stills. As liquor supplies were strained with the rise of prohibition in the early 20th century, demand for the mountaineers' moonshine grew steadily. While many mountain communities were difficult to access, Cosby was connected by road to Newport and Knoxville, giving it an early advantage. Furthermore, Cosby never managed to attract the tourism dollars that spilled into other park border towns, such as Gatlinburg and Townsend. It is therefore no surprise that moonshining became such an issue in the Cosby valley.

During World War II, the Manhattan Project at what is now Oak Ridge brought in people from all over the country. As many were unaccustomed to the dry laws that were prevalent in Tennessee at the time, they were forced to turn to illegally distilled liquor. This pushed the demand in Cosby still higher. Cosby's moonshiners dealt with the sugar shortage brought about by the war by taking advantage of a government supplement of sugar to any farmer who kept beehives. According to Appalachian historian Wilma Dykeman, "beehives sprouted around mountain cabins like weeds in a seedbed."

The explosion of moonshining in the Cosby area would lead to a cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement and moonshiners. The illegal distillers would warn one another of approaching revenue agents by setting off dynamite. Other times, locals would drive behind agents' cars, leading to a long tailgate along the road through the valley. Revenue officials could not rely on the residents of Cosby, who shunned intrusion by outside law enforcement. Moonshiners devised various methods for avoiding detection. Smith recalls:

On my walks to the country store, I have stood barefoot, watching as the hauler carefully brushed away his tire tracks with pine boughs. Moonshine stills were well concealed within the dark recesses of the mountains, but the smoke still wafted skyward from points all over the green mountains. Not so easily concealed were the odor of the mash fermenting and the whump, whump, whump of the thump keg. On a rare occasion I saw a still in full operation on Sunday in sight of Caton's Grove Church.

Eventually, competition between moonshiners led some to inform on others. Violence often erupted between rival families. The practice of illegally distilling liquor largely declined with the demise of dry laws in various counties around East Tennessee. While most residents of Cosby were no doubt law-abiding citizens, the notoriety the town gained as a moonshine mecca still hangs over it today.